Chad Brown told @TheNYRA he is aiming our #Gronkowski at the Travers after his big run for 2nd in @BelmontStakes. "I'm very proud of the way the horse ran. He ran an incredible race from where he was to make up that much ground," Brown said

thinair wrote:It's not as though Chad Brown wasn't effusive in his praise for how he was working.

As was every other trainer with regards to their horse before the race.

Lukas was actually lukewarm about Bravazo and wasn't all that confident. It wasn't that the horse wasn't training well he looked good in his works but he had a lot of "buts" in the interview I heard (though it was less about Bravazo and more about the other horses). Didn't hear Todd about Vino or NI, it seems handicappers were more bullish about his horses than he was. I feel like Mott was really the only other one strongly and vehemently touting his colt. Brown was like "he's working well I've been super pleased with him but obviously we won't know anything until he runs *shrug* " so while he was effusive I don't think he originally expected him to do that well even because of the unknown factor.

Somnambulist wrote:The can't figure a better parking situation unless they figure out New York traffic.. which is probably out of anyone's pay grade. Hemsptead Turnpike is a horror show every day of the week and so is the Cross Island. They encourage people to stick around for later races and schedule the concerts. The $40 parking is a deterrent and they schedule 3x as many trains going to/from Belmont on the day. I'm not sure what else they can really do with this honestly outside of allow less people. Maybe in the future they could offer a small voucher for a ride share to prevent people who live in the immediate area from driving.

When Belmont was built, like everything else on Long Island, it was not built expecting the amount of people who now live here.

The only thing in my opinion that they really need to figure out is the drunk person situation. We had a nice rapport going with a bartender in backyard at a Woodford Reserve truck so we went back a few times and it was awful. By 11:30 people were too drunk to walk. That's not NYRA's problem per se... people will get wasted anywhere. I'm remembering stepping over drunk people at Del Mar at the Pac Classic once. I just wonder if they could stick them somewhere. I felt like I was at Boardy Barn.

I have no idea what the event insurance on this event must have cost.

I think they're aware of all of this though, honestly. They'll be renovating it when the Islanders stadium goes up.

A Boardy Barn reference is very 'Long Island' of you. Well done.

What's tough is the infrastructure investment to make it manageable for one event that is more random than predictable doesn't make sense. The investment in the new arena is going to be very Arena oriented, but may help from the LIRR perspective a little to big day events. Otherwise, Hempstead and Jericho Turnpike aren't going to be different anytime soon, and the Cross Island will be a disaster until the day each and every one of us are long gone.

Maybe the answer is to do shuttle bus service from off site parking areas like they do for the US Open at Bethpage by using parking at Aqueduct or JFK? For Bethpage they used Jones Beach and I found it efficiently successful in my own experience, but that's too far away for Belmont.

If there was no event at the Coliseum that would be a great shuttle, although you are still going to deal with Hempstead Turnpike so maybe people wouldn't be happy. I don't think they will ever make anyone happy with it mostly because it's impossible to control NY traffic.

I'm sure all the people in town for Pride didn't make traffic any better.

"Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's my own to fool with."

One thing I really like about Belmont after the Belmont race is over is the nice sunsets. There was a nice one Saturday, a spectacular one after the last race the last time they ran the Breeders Cup there. People sitting around us were very nice, like most horse racing fans. The usher did an excellent job.

Went Friday and Saturday, there was no sound through the first two races. Speaking of listening to the fine hosts of Talking Horses, they were inaudible on Friday inside the facility and were still difficult to hear on Saturday, because it seems in the interior of Belmont that the speakers, the benches, and the TVs are not in optimal places.

Weather was beautiful Saturday, although it was stuffy on the 2nd floor grandstand, cooler outside.

Did not have him but was happy to see Edgar Prado win the Manhattan, must have felt great to him.

After going to the Belmont since 2000, we missed American Pharoah because of a family graduation, and although I was hoping to see Justify win and it was briefly exciting, I am sure it did not match that experience and the glow didn't last as long, but still it was a tremendous accomplishment for a horse to do what he did in a short span of time. We got a good look at him in the paddock and he couldn't have looked more relaxed than he did.

I expected to see more Gronkowski attire in the crowd, but I did not see anyone else wearing anything. I had a Gronkowski t-shirt under a sports jacket. Met up with a friend who is an Eagle season ticket holder who could not believe I did not put anything on the horse, I've been a NE seasonticket holder since the late 70's. I bet on Noble Indy figuring he would track Justify, and Blended Citizen since he was one of four horses that would hit the pick-6, although he was probably on some syndicate's C ticket, plus he made a positive rather than negative opinion on Maggie.

I suppose the NYRA has to cater to the high-rollers but to block areas on Friday seems not to make sense. A friend and I tried to walk out to the apron to watch the first race Friday and we were stopped by someone who asked us if we had admission to the Champagne Room. I said no, but I have champagne tastes, but he didn't let us in.

All in all, despite the sound problems and the escalator problems for a while on the 1st floor, it was a good job by the NYRA.

For the next 10-20-30 years the Belmont for both 2015+2018 will be replayed on computers, phones, watches etc. all across America no doubt, the question is.......
Was the race call a memorable one for you?

Somnambulist wrote:Interesting ideas. People using drugs probably is not a problem. Drunk people have given me way more problems than potheads every have.

Yeah, it sounds like their problems were more extreme than Belmont's, multiple altercations more, likely also involved drugs other than or in addition to alcohol and the green stuff. You can't go to any event in Washington without that unmistakable smell in the air, and I haven't witnessed any more fights than usual.

Well she did specify drunks over potheads.
Knowing Europe though they're probably targeting amphetamines, ecstasy, pure MDMA and cocaine (cocaine is hugely popular in the UK for some reason?).

But the spotters was what I had in mind earlier in the thread when talking about doorman/bouncer types. Even better if they can be patrolling the entire crowd but I figured it would be good to have some at points of sale for alcohol should a bartender/server try to cut off a client that subsequently gets threatening or unruly.

stark wrote:Did the stewards meet yesterday for a post-race confab, conference calls, a look back at the Belmont etc?
I remember reading where Repole said they would.
Maybe not?

On Thursday, Geroux reiterated that he felt he didn’t do anything wrong and believed that the stewards contacted him as a result of media attention focused on the first part of the race.

“I didn’t bother anybody, I didn’t shut anybody off,” Geroux said. “If there was something, I think they would have contacted me right away to review the race.”

On Sunday morning, Geroux said the horse had gotten aggressive with him after the slow start and that he wanted to put the horse in the clear but keep him away from Justify or else he would have gotten more aggressive.